Gangster Rap

Music & Me is the second studio album by American singer and rapper Nate Dogg, released by Elektra Records in 2001. It received a fair amount of critical and commercial success upon release. Its popularity was led by the hit single "I Got Love" which appeared on the soundtrack to the Jason Statham film The Transporter, and reached number 48 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It features guest appearances from Dr. Dre, Xzibit, Kurupt, Fabolous, Ludacris, Pharoahe Monch, Snoop Dogg, Tha Eastsidaz, Jermaine Dupri, B.R.E.T.T., and Lil' Mo, and includes production by Bink!, Dr. Dre, Mel-Man, Battlecat, Damizza, Fredwreck Nassar, Mike City, Bryan Michael-Cox, and Megahertz. According to SoundScan, Music & Me has sold 400,000 copies to date.

Ryan Daniel Montgomery, known professionally as Royce da 5'9" (or simply Royce 5'9"), is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Montgomery is currently one half of the rap duo Bad Meets Evil with fellow Detroit rapper Eminem, and is one half of the hip hop duo PRhyme with producer DJ Premier. He was also one quarter of the Shady Records hip hop group Slaughterhouse with Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz and Kxng Crooked. Alongside his recording career, Montgomery served as a ghostwriter for the likes of Puff Daddy and Dr. Dre. Online magazine About.com ranked the rapper as one of the "Top 50 MCs of Our Time (1987–2007)".

In an interview with DJ Vlad, Royce stated that his first stage name was "R-Dog", which was short-lived. He moved to Oak Park, Michigan when he was ten years old, later acquiring the nickname "Royce" in high school after wearing a chain with an R pendant resembling the Rolls Royce symbol. Royce's name comes from his height, 5 feet 9 inches (175 cm), but the numbers five and nine have been in his life numerous times as he "found his calling" as a rapper in 1995 and in his song "Tabernacle" he discusses his grandmother dying on the fifth floor of a hospital and his first son being born on the ninth.

Craig Jamieson Mack (May 10, 1971 – March 12, 2018) was an American rapper and record producer, and was famous during his tenure under Bad Boy Records.

Craig Jamieson Mack was born in The Bronx, New York, and raised on Long Island. He began rapping as a teenager under the name MC EZ. His first single, "Get Retarded", was released in 1988 via Fresh Records. The single was backed with and credited as MC EZ & Troup.

Mack became friends with fellow Long Island hip hop act EPMD and eventually went on tour with the duo, doing jobs as a roadie. After a few years without forward movement in his recording career and EPMD's breakup, Mack took advantage of an opportunity that Alvin Toney made possible for him to rap for Sean Combs. Mack then secured a record deal with Combs's newly founded label, Bad Boy Records.

Curtis Williams (born January 19, 1976), more commonly known as Spider Loc, is an American rapper and actor. He was formerly signed to Interscope Records and 50 Cent's G-Unit Records.

Spider Loc was discovered by Suge Knight and tagged along with Death Row Records, which appears on the Dysfunktional Family soundtrack, and Kurupt Against tha Grain under the name "Spider", but never signed an agreement. In September 2004 Spider Loc met rapper Young Buck in Atlanta and performed for him. A week later in Los Angeles, Young Buck introduced him to 50 Cent on the set of "Shorty Wanna Ride" video and he performed a freestyle rap. After four months the rapper signed a record deal with G-Unit.

Clifford Joseph Harris Jr. (born September 25, 1980), better known by the stage names T.I. and Tip (often stylized as TIP or T.I.P.), is an American rapper, record executive, and actor. Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Harris is one of the highest selling hip-hop artists of all time and is also known as one of the pioneers of the hip hop subgenre trap music, along with fellow Atlanta-based rappers Jeezy and Gucci Mane. Harris signed his first major-label record deal in 1999 with Arista Records subsidiary LaFace. In 2001, he released I'm Serious, his solo debut and only album with the label, as well as formed the southern hip hop group P$C. Upon being dropped from Arista, Harris signed to Atlantic and soon co-founded his own label imprint, Grand Hustle Records, which he launched in 2002.

Robert Ross, known professionally as Black Rob, was an American rapper who was signed to Bad Boy Records. He was best known for his 1999 single "Whoa!", which peaked at number 43 on the Billboard Hot 100. He spent four years in prison in connection with a hotel robbery in 2004.

Ruff Ryders Entertainment is an American hip hop record label and management company founded by siblings and record executives Joaquin "Waah", Darin "Dee" and Chivon Dean. It operated as a subsidiary of Universal, and distributed by Fontana Distribution. The label went on to launch the careers of several successful artists such as Eve, Drag-On and the Deans' nephew, Swizz Beatz, among others. The Ruff Ryders namesake also referred to a loose-knit hip hop collective composed of the core signees of the label. The collective's de facto leader was the label’s flagship artist DMX.

Ruff Ryders began as the managers of DMX and The LOX.

In 1997, through Def Jam A&R Irv Gotti, Def Jam signed Ruff Ryders artist DMX. Following DMX's signing to Def Jam, Ruff Ryders was launched as a record label. DMX's first studio album, It's Dark and Hell is Hot was released on May 12, 1998 and was the first release from Ruff Ryders as a record label. Portion of the album were recorded at Ruff Ryders' main studio, Powerhouse studios. The album featured guest appearances from fellow Ruff Ryders artists Loose and Big Stan, as well as a then 17-year old Drag-On, who signed in 1997. It also featured production from in-house Ruff Ryders producers P.K. and Dame Grease as well as the Deans' then teenage nephew Swizz Beatz, who was relatively unknown at the time. It's Dark And Hell And Hell Is Hot debuted at number 1 on the Billboard top 200 and sold over 250,000 copies in its first week. The album went on to sell four million copies in America, being certified Quadruple Platinum by the RIAA, and sold five million copies worldwide. The strong success of the album catapulted Ruff Ryders into mainstream success and prompted Def Jam's leader Lyor Cohen to challenge DMX to record another album quickly to have another album released within the same calendar year. DMX's second studio album, Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood, was released on December 22, 1998 through Ruff Ryders and debuted at number one the Billboard Top 200. The album sold over 670,000 units in its first week of release, and went on to sell over four million copies. By this time, Ruff Ryders enlisted Jay Jackson and Amelia Moore as A&R coordinators. Dee and Waah remained executive producers and A&Rs, with Dee also being the stylist for the label.

N.W.A was an American hip hop group formed in Compton, California. They were among the earliest and most significant popularizers and controversial figures of the gangsta rap subgenre, and the group is widely considered one of the greatest and most influential groups in the history of hip hop music.

Warren Griffin III known professionally as Warren G, is an American rapper, DJ, and producer known for his role in West Coast rap's 1990s ascent. Along with Snoop Dogg and Nate Dogg, he formed the hip-hop trio 213, named for Long Beach's area code. A pioneer of G-funk, he attained mainstream success with the 1994 single "Regulate", a duet with Nate Dogg. The younger stepbrother of rapper Dr. Dre, he introduced him to Snoop Dogg, who Dre later signed.

Dopeman Music is the first mixtape by southern rapper Scarface. It was released on his independent label Facemob Music. The song "Dopeman Music" had a promotional video. 2 years after Scarface announced his retirement he came back to hip hop with this mixtape; speaking on the issue Scarface said, "I'm a free agent".

Keith Edward Elam (July 17, 1961 – April 19, 2010), better known by his stage name Guru (a backronym for Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal), was an American rapper and record producer. He was a member of the hip hop duo Gang Starr, along with DJ Premier. He was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts.

In 2012, both About.com placed him #49 on their list of Top 50 MCs of Our Time, and The Source ranked him #30 on their list of Top 50 Lyricists of All Time, saying "Guru dropped some of the most thoughtful rhymes on wax".

Guru died on 19 April 2010 from myeloma at age 48.

Elam was born in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. His father, Harry, was a judge and his mother, Barbara, was the co-director of libraries in the Boston Public Schools system. He attended the Advent School on Beacon Hill in Boston, Noble and Greenough School in Dedham, Massachusetts, and Cohasset High School in Cohasset, Massachusetts for high school. Elam graduated with a degree in business administration from Morehouse College in Atlanta and took graduate classes at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan.

Shawn Corey Carter, known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur. Often regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, he has been central to the creative and commercial success of artists including Kanye West, Rihanna, and J. Cole. He is the founder and chairman of entertainment company Roc Nation, and was the president and chief executive officer of Def Jam Recordings from 2004 to 2007.

H.F.M. 2 is the third studio album by American rapper Lloyd Banks, released on November 22, 2010 through G-Unit Records and EMI.

G-Unit Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group. Founded in 2002 by rapper 50 Cent, for the first eleven years of operation, G-Unit ran in conjunction with, and was distributed by, Interscope Records. In February 2014, distribution switched to Caroline Records and Capitol Music Group. G-Unit Records has a subsidiary label G-Note Records, which caters to R&B and pop. The label's flagship artist is its founder 50 Cent.

Mobb Deep was an American rap and music production duo from New York City. The duo consisted of rappers Prodigy and Havoc. They are considered to be among the principal progenitors of hardcore East Coast hip hop and hip hop in the mid-1990s. Mobb Deep became one of the most successful rap duos of all time, having sold over three million records. Their best-known albums are The Infamous (1995), Hell on Earth (1996) and Murda Muzik (1999), and their most successful singles were "Shook Ones " and "Survival of the Fittest." They were known for their dark and hardcore delivery.

The Diplomats (also known as Dipset) is an American hip hop group formed in 1997 by childhood friends Cam'ron and Jim Jones in Harlem, New York. The group was originally composed of Cam'ron, Jim Jones and Freekey Zekey, all of whom grew up together in Harlem. In 1999, fellow Harlem-based rapper Juelz Santana joined the group.

In 2001, following Cam'ron's signing, the group secured a recording contract with Diplomat Records, Cam'ron's label. It subsequently began recording its debut album, Diplomatic Immunity, and released it on the aforementioned labels in March 2003. Following tensions and controversy between Cam'ron and Jay-Z, the group subsequently severed ties with Roc-A-Fella and signed with indie record label Koch Records. The group released its second album Diplomatic Immunity 2, in November 2004 on Koch. After a hiatus because of artistic differences, in 2010 the original members began recording music together again and announced a reunion album. In February 2011, it was announced that the group had signed with Interscope Records. However, in May 2013, Freekey Zekey revealed it no longer recorded for Interscope. The group currently records for E1 Music, the successor of Koch.